What Now?
by sarah3286
Summary: Steph goes after one of here skips, but it doesn't turn out as expected.
1. Chapter 1

All character belong to Evanovich:

I had broken up with Joe about two months ago and now I have been avoiding Ranger at all costs. I have been going in to the office later than normal to avoid him. Lula had been my back up for all my FTAs. I just couldn't handle the pressure that I knew Ranger would start applying. I hadn't seen Ranger's car when I went into the office, I just assumed that he wouldn't be there so late. I had walked into the office and was talking with Connie and Lula.

"Girl where has your skinny white ass been?"

"I've been busy."

"Yeah sure, you just don't want to tell us that you've been shacking up with Batman." Lula voiced.

"I told you Ranger doesn't want me like that, he only wants it until he gets bored."

"Girl, don't you see nothing."

"Yeah." Connie agreed. "Batman's got the hots for you."

"But for how long?" I asked. "That is what I am unsure of."

"Get it while you can, I mean come on Steph jump his bones already."

I grabbed my files from Connie while I spoke, "I am not doing a one night stand with him, I already did that and didn't like the next morning." Uh-oh. I hadn't told them about that, that had been almost a year ago, and I hadn't told anybody about that. Just then Vinnie's door flew open and there stood Ranger.

"See you later." I said over my shoulder as I ran out the door. I got into my mini, and sped out of the lot. I drove to my parents' house so that I could look over my files without Ranger coming over.

I drove up to my parents' house, and she was already standing at the door. She started before I even got into the door, "Stephanie…"

"Mom, don't start, please. I just can't handle it right now."

"There's chocolate cake in the kitchen if you want some, I had made it for dinner yesterday, but you never showed up."

"Sorry mom I had to work. Can I just stay here for a little bit while I look over some of my files?"

"Sure, help yourself."

I had just finished going over the last file, when I saw a black Turbo come pulling up to the curb. I ran up stairs, files in one hand, purse in the other, and went into the bathroom. I threw the window open just as I heard the doorbell ring, and my mother's response. "Please come in…she was in the dinning room…"

I went out onto the roof and climbed down, dropping the last couple of feet, and landing off balance. I quickly regained my footing and ran through the yards to Mary Lou's house. She was able to get Larry to watch the kids as she dropped me off at the bonds office. I stuck my head into the office.

"Lula, you wanna go pick some guys up?"

"You kidding, we're taking my car as seeing you don't got none."

We had picked up Mooner after a five hour marathon of Star Trek, and then we decided to go after Monty Sylvester. He was a little more dangerous than I would have liked but I need the money. He was charged with stalking, and arson of his ex-girlfriend's home. We pulled up in front of his trailer and I started to get nervous.

"You coming in with me?" I asked Lula.

"I think I'm gonna stay and watch to see if he runs out. And if he does I can get him easily enough."

"You're just afraid." I said trying not to show my own fear.

"No, just go ahead and get you white but in there, I got your back."

I got out and started up the grass toward the trailer. I turned to see Lula sitting behind the wheel still, just hoping she wouldn't leave me. I went up to the door and knocked. No one answered. I tried the door and it was unlocked so I took one last look back towards Lula and stepped inside. I walked through the kitchen which was a mess, dishes and take out boxes strewn everywhere, the little living room was actually in decent shape. I walked toward the back of the trailer to the tiny bedroom and bathroom. I looked in the bedroom first and found nothing but and unmade bed and clothes piled on top of clothes. I opened the bathroom door next. I thought I was going to vomit. He was in the bottom of the shower with his blood surrounding him. I turned to run and found my way blocked by a man that I hadn't seen before. That was when I found my voice. I screamed for all I was worth.

"You shouldn't have done that." He said a little too calmly when I had stopped screaming. I had nowhere to go. He had me trapped. He took a swing, which caught me off guard and I went down like a sack of bricks. But he didn't stop with that.

"You've seen my face." He was still calm. "That means that you can not live."

At that point I fought. I fought with whatever I had in me. He kicked and punched and tried to choke me. But I fought. This was not going to be the end of my life, I need to tell Ranger…


	2. Chapter 2

"Babe."

"Come on Babe open your eyes."

I can't. I think to myself. They're so heavy.

"Open your eyes, come on, I need to see those eyes."

I struggled but I finally got them open. "Ranger?" I asked, still a little fuzzy on what had happened.

"Babe, what happened? Are you okay? Where's your back up?" Too many questions, I could hardly keep my eyes open let alone think coherently.

"Lula?" I asked hoping to answer one of his questions.

"She called Tank and then took off after he got here, she didn't want to be here when the cops showed up."

"She was my back up."

"Babe…"

I was still in Sylvester's trailer, I was now in the living room, but the pictures of his bloody body still stuck in my head.

"Sylvester?"

"He's dead babe, come on I'm gonna take you to the hospital to get you checked out."

That's when I remembered the man. The one who tried to kill me. I sat up and started looking around hoping he wasn't still there.

"Babe relax, don't move so fast you could have a concussion."

"But the man..." Was all that I could get out into an understandable thought.

"What man?"

"The one who hit me."

"Babe, what are you talking about?"

"When I got here Sylvester was already dead. I turned around and there was this man. He was built almost like one of your guys. He kept hitting and beating me."

"Babe wait…you mean it wasn't Sylvester who did this to you?"

"Weren't you listening?" Now I was getting angry. He wasn't even listening to a word I said. "We have to find him." I attempted to get up. But an attempt was all that happened.

"Babe relax, your safe, I'm going to take you back to Rangeman."

At this point exhaustion hit me again, I let him help me into his car, as soon as I felt the leather seat under me I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning with Ranger sitting next to me on the bed staring.

"You could have woken me."

"I could have."

I sat up and made my way to the bathroom. I wanted to scream when I saw myself in the mirror. I looked like the bride of Frankenstein. I took a quick shower and threw on Ranger's robe. I walked out into the living room fully expecting Ranger to be downstairs. But once again I was wrong.

"Babe, Bobby needs to look at your bruises and cuts to make sure their not infected. He was a medic while we were in the Rangers, he knows what he is doing." I looked down at my robe and then to Bobby, whose face was starting to redden.

"Steph, if you don't feel comfortable with me doing it I can always take you to the hospital and they …"

"No hospitals." I said. Bobby looked down at the robe I was wearing then said. "You can change, but make sure its something that I can see most of your bruises."

I hurried back into Ranger's room and threw on a sports bra and shorts. I walked back out into the living room and stood in front of Bobby not sure of what to do.

"You can just stay there," he said to me. He did his survey of me, the whole time Ranger and I didn't take our eyes off of each other. "She seems in working order, just a little ruffed up." Bobby said.

I ran back into Ranger's room and threw on one of my shirts that were still there from the time that I stayed here. I ran out of the room and grabbed the keys off the counter. "Well I guess that's means that I can go back to work." I was almost to the door when Ranger grabbed my arm.

"Babe."

"What I'm in working order, the doc said so, I can go catch bad guys. Sorry but I got to make rent."

"The guy that did this to you is still out there, you can't go running around…"

"Ranger, I can't just sit here either."

"I can't see you get hurt again."

"I can take care of myself."

"How about this, if you're that worried about rent, you give up your apartment and live at Rangeman."

"How about, I get to be involved in this investigation."

"Fine, if you give up your apartment and come here and live and work, I will keep you up to date and let you help bring this guy in."

"But I want to keep my apartment."

"Babe its either this or you go to a safe house."

"But what about after this is all over?"

"I never said you had to leave after this." He said

I was more than a little excited when he said this. But I tried to play it cool. "Fine."

"Deal?"

"Deal."

I was down at my desk doing searches, for what seemed like forever. I looked at my watch, only two hours had gone by. I had done as much research as I could on my skip Monty Sylvester. I couldn't find any one that fit the description of the guy who attacked me. I decided it was time to get some answers.


	3. Chapter 3

I walked out of my cubical and went to the control room. Lester and Bobby were both there watching monitors.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Bombshell, what can we do for you?" Lester asked.

"Well I was wondering if Ranger was in his office."

"Yeah, you want us to tell him your coming?"

"No, I'll just go in, thanks."

I walked to Rangers office and knocked.

"Enter." Came his gruff voice from the other side.

"Hey." I said quietly.

"Babe, do you need something?" he said a little too sternly for my liking.

"Not if you're busy." I said just as quiet as before.

He looked up and I could see the stress around the edges of his eyes. He got up and quicker than I could blink he was in front of me, pushing me against the wall.

"Did you need something" he asked and he pushed himself against me.

"I just wanted you, to come up for lunch that is." Whew that was close. He did his one eyebrow thing, which looked both intimidating yet incredibly sexy. He leaded in close, just a breath away from a kiss.

"Well Babe, I would…" The door flew open and Tank strode in.

"Boss, we got a problem."

"What is it Tank?" He said while pushing himself away from me. He looked just as disappointed as I felt by the interruption.

"We can't find a single person in the databases that fit Steph's description."

"Well we will have to look harder." The stress lines were back around his eyes and he sat down in front of his computer again.

I slinked out the room, most likely not liking what was going to be discussed between the two of them, even though it did concern me.

I walked back to my cubical, on the way I passed the control room.

"I didn't know he was coming here." Lester was saying to Bobby.

"Well Ranger did say he called in reinforcements, we might as well let him in."

"Who's here?" I asked

"The head of Rangeman Atlanta."

"What's his name?"

"Manuel"

"Why don't you want to let him in?"

"He runs the Atlanta crew much harder than Ranger does."

"Oh so you don't want him taking over your play area?"

"Watch yourself around him Bombshell; he is on his way up."

I walked out of the control room and back to my cubical. 5 more searches to go, hopefully I could get them done before dinner. Wait I forgot to grab lunch, it's already 12:30. I got up and went to the break room. I found something that looked almost edible, so I tried it. Yuck. I threw it in the trash. Ranger still had junk food up in his apartment.

I took the elevator up to the seventh floor and went straight to Ranger's kitchen. I found some frosted flakes in the cupboard, so I poured myself a bowlful with some milk, and I decided to make hot chocolate. I filled my cup with water and put it in the microwave. I started eating while the water heated up. When the microwave beeped I took the cup out and when I did, I spilled it down my shirt. It burned so much; I ripped my shirt off and threw it to the side. I finished my cereal and hot chocolate, when the door opened. In walked Ranger and Manuel.

"I was telling the other team that…" Manuel was saying, when the both saw me, his words dried in his throat.

"Hi guys, sorry I just had to get something to eat, I'll be out of here in a second." I picked up my bowl and cup and put them in the sink, I turned around to see the both of them still staring at me.

"Babe?"

"What?" I asked before I noticed that I was still shirtless. "Oh sorry, I had spilled on it; I'll just go throw another one on." I said as a scooped up the shirt and slid past the two men to the bedroom. I knew that I was blushing but there was nothing I could do about it now. I threw on one of my other Rangeman shirts and walked back out into the living room.

"Sorry if I interrupted your meeting, I'll just go back down stairs."

"Babe, this is Manuel, head of Rangeman Atlanta."

"Yeah I've already been informed."

It was Manuel's turn to speak. "Why are you up here?"

Okay, not what I expected him to say but okay. "Because I wanted you to see me in my lacy bra." I said sarcastically. "I already told you I needed food."

"Yes, but there is food downstairs."

"Yeah and it all tastes like cardboard." Now I was starting to not like this man.

"Shouldn't you follow all Rangeman rules, or do you get special treatment because you're Ranger's woman?"

WHAT! Me, Ranger's woman. This guy jut made me go from embarrassed to rhino mode to confused in less than a minute.

"Manuel, please don't talk to Stephanie that way." Uh-oh he said my full name and please. He's upset, no make that pissed off.

"Why." Is he really that thick?

"Boys, I'll let you argue your issues, I have to get back down to work." With that I slipped out of the apartment and down to my work station. I just about sat down when Lester and Bobby came over to me.

"So how was you're first met and greet with Manuel?"

"I think I caused a little problem between him and Ranger."

"Why?" Bobby asked.

"I was eating my lunch up there, and he thought that I was an exception to the rules, but I got work to do boys, so if you don't need anything else…"

"We just wanted to make sure you were ok, you seemed a little flustered when you came out of the apartment."

"I'm good boys thanks." I had decided to run another search on Sylvester. After I ran the search I looked for anything that might seem off, I mean I have looked at this guy's file I don't know how many times. I read through all his normal hang out, they were all near Stark Street. I might as well do a little field work myself.

**This was really just a transition chapter, but every story needs one. Let me know what you think of it so far.**


	4. Chapter 4

I don't know how I am going to do it but I will leave this building. I could go down to the garage but then he would have some one stun gun me. That's when the idea hit me. I went to find Bobby and Lester. I found them sitting the break room eating some of the disgusting food that was kept there.

"You guys want to help me with something."

"Sure Bombshell, what do you need."

"Come with me, and make sure you're dressed." The two men shot each other a look; they had no idea what they got themselves into. The three of us rode down the garage together.

"Uh, Bombshell, where we going." Bobby asked when we stepped off the elevator.

"You're coming with me to do a little leg work."

"But you're not supposed to leave."

"He never said that, he just told me that he could let me get hurt, and I won't get hurt if I have you two with me." I batted my eyelashes at them hoping that would convince them. I also had my stun gun in my bag if they wouldn't cooperate. "We only have to go to a few places. Please."

"Fine, but we are sticking to you."

"That was my plan." We hopped into one of the black SUVs and headed out of the garage.

"Where to first?"

"Stark Street."

"I am going to regret this." Lester said as he headed toward our first destination.

By the time it four we had hit Sylvester's work, mother's house, and his neighbors. We still had nothing.

"Let's go to his trailer."

"Are you sure Steph?"

"No but we need to go there anyway."

"When you want to leave just tell us."

We pulled up near the trailer and got out of the SUV. The three of us walked into the trailer and started looking around. The two of them went into the living to look around while I made my way to the bedroom. It looked messier than when I was here last time. It looked as though some one had been searching for something. My spidy senses were tingling, but I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong.

"Lets get out of here guys." They wordlessly followed me out, hands on their guns ready for any problems. We got back in the SUV and started our way back.

"What did you guys find?"

"The place was a mess, we couldn't find anything useful."

"It was messier than last time, but I don't know what to make of that. Let's go get some donuts, so I can think." We were not five minutes from the Tasty Pastry when Bobby's phone rang.

"Yo…she's right here…she's fine…"

"Is that Ranger?" I asked already knowing the answer. Bobby nodded and I took his phone from him without even asking.

"Ranger."

"Babe, I told you not to go running around."

"I'm not hurt; I even brought two body guards with me, so I couldn't get into any trouble."

"But you always do." I could hear the stress in his voice.

"We are stopping at Tasty Pastry and then we will be coming back to Haywood, we can talk then." I hung up. Oh my god. I hung up on Ranger. He's not going to be happy about it but it had to be done. I handed Bobby his phone back.

"What did he say Bomber, you're looking a little scared."

"I hung up on Ranger, he told me never to hang up on him." The two men exchanged a look doing their silent ESP thing and Lester started to drive a little faster.

We reached Haywood not ten minutes later with donut already eaten. We pulled into one of the spots and I opened my door to get out. A firm hand grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the car. I looked up to see an angry Ranger.

"I told you not to leave the building and never to hang up on me and what happens you do both." He said calmly, but I could see the anger around his eyes.

"I was following up on some leads." I said meekly.

"Babe, I just want you safe…"

"Sir, aren't you going to deal with her lack of following orders?" Manuel asked. He's not too bright is he? "You can't let your employees think that they can get away with anything."

"You're right," Ranger said, "Brown, Santos, and Steph, go and wait in my office." What he was right? What is going on here?

The three of us scurried to the elevator and then to his office to wait to hear what he had to say. We all took a seat on the leather couch and waited. Ranger walked in five minutes later looking extremely agitated.

"Brown, Santos, why did you take Stephanie out of the building."

"Well you see…" Lester started but I cut him off.

"If they hadn't taken me I would have stunned them while we were in the garage and took off any way." Both Bobby and Lester looked at me in utter disbelief, they hadn't known about that part. "It's a good thing they agreed to go or else I would have been out there on my own, which would have made you even more upset, o the guys were really doing you a service rather than a disservice." I babbled out as quickly as I could. I didn't want the guys to be in trouble because they helped me. At this point I looked up and saw that Ranger was relieved that I was safe but still had the look of worry around his eyes.

"Just go back to work." He said finally. Bobby and Lester got up and left but I stayed behind. He was facing the window now, so he didn't see me standing there. He started muttering in Spanish, I didn't know what he was saying but by the tone I knew he was frustrated.

"I'm sorry." I told him. He obviously wasn't too aware of his surroundings because he jerked around quickly.

"Just go back to work, Stephanie." Ouch.

"I just wanted to help, you said I could be involved, and that's all I was doing."

"I also said that I would let you know when I had something."

"But you know I can't just sit around, Ranger, it's not something I can do.

"You said you would." He said calmly

"No, I said I would give up my apartment and come work here, well part of that work is field work Ranger."

"Why didn't you come to me with what you had, I said I would keep you informed, it has to go both ways." He was clearly pissed now and I just about had it.

"Well maybe I would have, if you weren't taking all your advice from Manuel, a man who doesn't know your team or me." With that I turned on my heel and walked out the door. I went to my cubical and started on another pile of searches.

"_You shouldn't have done that." He said a little too calmly when I had stopped screaming. I had nowhere to go. He had me trapped. He took a swing, which caught me off guard and I went down like a sack of bricks. But he didn't stop with that._

"_You've seen my face." He was still calm. "That means that you can not live." _

_At that point I fought. I fought with whatever I had in me. He kicked and punched and tried to choke me. But I fought. This was not going to be the end of my life; I need to tell Ranger…_

I sat up with a start, it was just a nightmare. My watch said that it was ten. But I had to talk to Ranger, he was going to hear me out whether he liked it or not.

* * *

**Don't know how soon I will be able to write the next chapter, just bare with me.**


	5. Chapter 5

I powered everything down and left my desk and went to the elevator. The doors pinged open and I stepped in. When I saw my reflection I was a tad horrified. My nap had smudged my make up and my hair was a little out of control. Well nothing I could do about it now.

The doors opened on the seventh floor and I made my way to Ranger's apartment. I had just raised my hand to knock when the door opened.

"Stephanie." Ranger said clearly still upset. I remember seeing Ranger hold a grudge before.

"I need to talk to you." I said and I pushed past him. I knew I only was able to because he let me.

"So talk." He said simply.

I walked to the living room and sat on the couch. "Come sit down." He just stood there looking at me, so I sunk lower and added. "Please." He walked over and sat in the chair opposite of me.

"Okay I'm just got to say what I have to say, please don't interrupt me, or try to stop me, I have to do this before I chicken out." He made a slight inclination with his head which I took as a "go on" movement.

"Well first of all I want to apologize for leaving early I now you're still upset over it and I'm sorry but it was something I had to do. And since you weren't listening to me and had to try something. Second, I want to tell you that I full remember what happened that night in Sylvester's trailer. Before I passed out you were my last conscious though. I realized that there was so much that I had to say to you, and I was so frightened that I was going to die and you not hear them. Ranger…"

_Ring. Ring. Ring_.

His phone went off and looked at me for a beat before he answered it. "Yo." He said while still looking at me. oh come one, I was just about to tell him. "Be down in a minute." And he hung up.

"Babe, they found a guy that looks like who you described we did you to Id his picture they have it down in the control room with all his information."

"Okay." I sighed and got up and out the door with him right behind. We went straight down to the conference room without talking the entire ride down. We took our seats at the table. The guys to generously let me sit next to Ranger. Lest was on my other side, and Bobby was on the other side of him. On Ranger's left was Manuel and Tank.

"Bomber we need you to look at these photos to see if this is the guy." Bobby slid the pictures down the table. The picture in front of me was deffinaely the guy. He had the same mean face, and the dark, pitless eyes.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Anton Grant" Bobby answered. I recognized the name. But I didn't know where from. Lester handed me the file and I started to look through it. Bingo. He had worked with Sylvester about five months ago. I don't know what his grudge was against him but I was going to find him. I looked over the file one last time and put it down.

"Anything else I should know?" I asked in general.

"I think that is all we need you for Ms. Plum." Manuel said to me. I glanced over at Ranger, my eyes questioning.

"Ranger?" Iasked finally.

"She can stay." I felt a smugness inside of me when I saw the disappointment on Manuel's face.

"She has no reason to stay." He countered.

"I told her I would keep her involved." Ranger said calmly.

"She's only a waste of space, she doesn't contribute anything, its not like she does anything around here, expect be your …" That was when Ranger's fist made contact with Manuel's face.

I sat there astonished at what I just saw, but yet again I wasn't al that surprised that Ranger stood up for me. Manuel's nose was bleeding and he had a look of shock on his face.

"You would side with her rather than your own men?" Manuel asked. I looked around to see if the other Merry Men felt the same way about me or if it was just Manuel. By the looks that the men were giving him I could tell that it was just him.

Ranger was sitting down now, "I think that you should leave." He said calmly to Manuel. Manuel looked around the room and saw the same look in everyone's faces. He got up and went to the door. Before he closed the door behind him you could hear him swear and muttering about Ranger being whipped.

"I say that we should go get him." I said hopping to get on with everything.

"Babe…"

"No Ranger, look the only way to get this guy is to get him now, so I can go back on to my normal life."

"We can't put you into any more danger, though."

"Fine, how about we got to Pino's and get a couple of pizzas and figure out what to do." Ranger nodded and walked out the door. I followed close behind him.

"Babe, stay here."

"No, I want to come with, after all pizza was my idea." He shook his head but let me come any way.

We made the drive to Pino's in silence, which was unusual for me, but I was trying to figure out how to get this guy. We walked into Pino's and I froze immediately. He was sitting at the booth right next to the door. He saw me and stiffened. We locked eyes and stayed like that until, Anton's associate grabbed Ranger. Don't get me wrong, Rangers a big guy and can hold his own, but this guy was huge, he looked about double the size of Ranger. Ranger was struggling in his own battle while I started running after my fletting skip. He ran out the side and I was about twenty five yards behind him. I kept running as I pulled my phone out and hit speed dial three. Tank.

"Anton is running toward Stark, we were at Pino's and he was there." I gasped into the phone.

"I'll track you in your phone GPS just stay on him." Then I hung up. I ran harder, trying to stay with him but he kept getting further and further ahead of me. It felt like I had been running forever, when two black Explorers bounded past me, they were going after him, so I stopped where I was and collapsed in the middle of the street.

* * *

**Almost over!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Remember I don't own anything, I just like to play with them**

**This the last Chapter, I hop I don't disappoint!**

* * *

My eyelids were heavy. I knew I wasn't on the concrete any more, but I don't remember much after that. I heard arguing as Ranger and the Merry Men were trying to decide what to do. 

"Ranger, he's still out there man, we can't hid bombshell forever."

"How could you not get him, you were in a car for christ sake, he was on foot."

"He went through backyards before we could catch up to him."

"Then you should have gotten out and ran after him." Ranger was pissed. I felt him get up. Wait Ranger's next to me?

"Man stay laying down you're going to rip your stitches." That was Bobby, the medic.

"I'm fine." He said gruffly

"No stay with Bomber, she should be waking up soon, you don't want her waking up without you next to her."

"Fine after Steph gets up, we'll meet you three in the control room and discuss how we are going to find this Anton guy."

"No, we will bring everything we know up to you guys, you got to stay lying down. We will be back in about a half an hour she should be up by then."

"Fine." Ranger didn't sound happy, but he went with it anyway. I heard Bobby Lester and Tank leave, and Ranger shift in the bed. "You're busted Babe."

I rolled over to meet his gaze, and a pain shot right through my legs. I moaned from the pain.

"Babe you okay?"

"My legs feel like lead."

"That's because you chased the skip for half a mile at least, full out. I can't even get you to jog a half mile, let alone full out sprint one."

"He got on my bad side."

"Oh I have no question as to that Babe."

This time I rolled through the pain so that I was facing Ranger. I was looking into his profile, he had stitches above his right eyebrow and a deep bruise forming on his jaw. I forced myself to get up even through the pain so that I could see the extent of his injuries.

"Babe, lay down, you…"

"I'm fine," I told him as I pulled the sheet away from his torso, he had a long line of stitches in his left side, where it looked like a knife got him, and a fair amount of bruises.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly.

"For what?"

"If I hadn't left to get Anton, I could have helped you, all I could think about was getting him, I didn't even stop to back you up." My lip was quivering now, as I tried to fight back tears.

"Babe, it's okay, there would have been nothing you could have done." He pulled me down to kiss him. It was a searing kiss, the ones that if you were standing up you would have fallen over, we hadn't even realized anyone else was in the room. Okay, well I didn't notice. That is until one of the Merry Men cleared their throat.

"We can't leave you to alone for a minute can we?" Tank asked, an amused smile playing across his face.

"We got all his information Boss." Lester said while trying not to laugh.

"Well." Ranger said simply.

"We have all his information, he lives over near Stark Street in the direction that he was running, so he may have been going to his own house or one of his friend's houses."

"Start canvassing the neighborhood, and Tank get some guys at the station involved in this. Only tell a few though, in case they spot him, they can bring him in."

"We have aleady started on the neighborhood, and we told Morelli, he said that he would tell whomever needed to know."

"Unh…You guys told Morelli!" I said a little louder then intended. The three men standing there all looked taken aback by my little outburst. "Sorry it's just that Joe and I haven't talked since we broke up." I said flatly.

"Sorry Bomber we didn't know, we figured that since you and the boss weren't…you know, that you were still with Morelli…"

"Don't you even listen to the Burg grape vine? Never mind, its fine, but just so you know for future reference. Now, tell me what is the extent of Ranger's injuries?" I asked Bobby.

"Well, he has a couple of…"

"Brown, you don't need to let her know." Ranger barked.

"Yes, he does." I protested

"Why, Babe?" he asked pleadingly.

"So I know, how much pain you are in and if you are up to stenuous activity." I hadn't meant to say the last part out loud. Lester looked like he was trying to keep from laughing, and Tank had an almost smile on his face. Bobby was still looking at Ranger, not knowing if he should listen to me or him. Ranger gave him a nod, which was more like a slight inclination of his head then an actual nod.

"As I was saying before, he has a couple of fractured rips, he has some stitches in his side so he can't sit up or bend a lot. But other than that its just superficial."

"Other than the pain in my legs am I fine?" I asked him.

"You should be fine, but I can get you something for the pain." Bobby quickly left the room. He came not even two minutes later with some pain meds. "Take these, you might get a little drowsy, but other than that the pain will go away. I took them both and laid back down. The three guys left and I was left in bed with Ranger.

"So..." was all e got out before the drowsyness kicked in.I felt him chuckle as I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up to Ranger getting off of the bed and hurriedly throwing clothes on.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "You're going to rip your stitches."

"Morelli spoted Anton." That was all that I needed to hear and I flew off the bed, and shoved myself into and outfit. He didn't argue the fact of me coming with, he just grabbed his keys and the two of us were out the door.

"Morelli spoted him in a house on Stark so we are going to head down there." The two of us rolled up to the house as it was being surrounded by cop cars. Yeah, can you say subtle.

"Cupc-Steph, stay behind the cruiser back there, he's armed." I backed up to were he told me to go and watched as he did his thing. Shouting orders and telling everyone else what to do. The cops were milling around near the parmeter of the property, when the unthingable happened.

_BOOM!!_

The house erupted into a ball of fire. Everyone was flown backwards. I landed on the yard across the street, Ranger was laying on top of the squad car in front of me. I heard Joe say "What just happened?" I started to get myself up, when I was grabbed from behind. He put his hand over my mouth and dragged me inbetween the houses and to the street ovoer. When he spun me around, I was looking into the eyes of Anton Ward.

"But I thought you were in…" I started

"That's what you were supposed to think, but it doesn't matter what you think." At that he flung me over his shoulder and brought me into one of the neighboring houses.

"What do you want from me?" I asked as he threw me down on the couch.

"I want you to…" The door flew open and in walked a man that I really didn't want to see. "Ah, Manuel, perfect timing." Anton said to him.

I saw rage in Manuel's eyes. "You didn't tell me that you put a bomb in the house, what's wrong with you?" Manuel asked.

"It was the perfect diversion, to get Ms. Plum."

"Yeah, but you could have warned me, three feet closer and I would have been toast."

"Sorry man I thought you knew."

"It was pretty sweet though the cop went flying. When I told him that Ranger had sent me to take the back, he never doubted me for a second, that was pretty cool get away."

They kept talking and congratulating themselves. So while their attention was turned off of me I slowly slid my phone out of pocket and dialed Ranger. I let it ring once and I hung up. This way he can trace me. Now all I could do was wait, I slid my phone back into my pocket, and continued to sit there, trying to plan my next move.

A noise came from outside and it distracted the two men from the conversation. Manuel spoke first, "We got to take care of her, before her boyfriend shows up."

Please come on Ranger hurry up. He pulled a gun from the back of pants and clicked the safety off. He aimed and…

_Bang, Bang, Bang_

Three rounds were fired, but suprisingly, I didn't feel the pain. I figured that to be a good sign, maybe that means that I am dead already, it wasn't a painful death thank god. But wait a minute. Manuel fell to his knee and then slumped to the floor, Anton did the same moments later.

I wasn't dead. Oh my god, Ranger came in time.

* * *

I woke up with a warm blanket wrapped around me. I turned and realized that it was Ranger. He was staring sleepily at me. 

"What is it Babe?" he asked.

"What's today?"

"Sunday, 4:30 in the morning."

"Oh...they're both gone?"

"Yes. Go back to sleep Babe."

"Okay." I snugglied back into him, I was almost asleep when I remembered the rest of what I was going to say to him.

"Ranger?"

"Yeah, Babe."

"I'm in love you."

"I know Babe, and I'm in love with you."

* * *

**Let me know what you guys thought of it.**


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